The New York Times
A film of almost incredible suspense, and it includes, among a great many chilling delights, the most brilliantly executed chase sequence I have ever seen.
Full review
The French Connection
Gene Hackman is Popeye Doyle, an obsessive New York cop hellbent on busting a heroin ring in William Friedkin's tough, fast-paced The French Connection. Winner of Best Film, Director and Actor at the 1972 Academy Awards.
"Story involves a $32 million shipment of high-grade heroin smuggled from Marseilles to New York hidden in a Lincoln Continental. A complicated deal is set up between the French people, an American money man and the Mafia. Doyle, a tough cop with a shaky reputation who busts a lot of street junkies, needs a big win to keep his career together. He stumbles on the heroin deal and pursues it with a single-minded ferocity that is frankly amoral. He isn't after the smugglers because they're breaking the law; he's after them because his job consumes him." (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times).
Less1971Rating: M, Violence104 minsUSA
ActionCrimeThriller
- Director:
- William Friedkin ('The Exorcist', 'The Rules of Engagement')
- Writer:
- Ernest Tidyman
- Cast:
- Gene HackmanRoy ScheiderFernando ReyTony Lo Bianco
The French Connection | Awards
Winner of five Oscars including Best Film, Director and Lead Actor (Hackman), Academy Awards 1972.
